Or he better have since he'd knocked me flat on my ass...and into a pile of ash that had once been Chandra. I watched as Alden said something to the Fae and then the Demon only for all three to turn as one and look at me. I fought to get my breathing under control. The feel of his searing kiss was still lingering upon my lips.
I turned narrowed eyes back at the three men wondering what the fuck was going on. Alden was from the Guild—My Guild, he was the leader of the Eastern Section of Washington State. He'd basically been a father figure to the orphans that came to us....which had included me up until a few years ago when Adam, Larissa and I had moved out of the Guild complex into apartments of our own in the same building.
Alden stood with his gentle blue eyes narrowed on me, his thick brown hair was streaked with grey and instead of it making him look older as it should have; it just made him look intelligent. He wore the Guild leaders crimson robe over black slacks. He didn’t look a day over thirty five, but I knew different.
I still didn't trust my voice not to quiver from the effect the Fae had upon me. My insides still quivered with need for him and only him. It burned me, my anger rising by the second even though I'd sent it away. It was one of the few ways an immortal could be killed outright. Bind his soul to a weak human and drag him to hell with you.
Souls were tricky that way. You couldn’t live without one—you wouldn’t want to anyways.
"Synthia, listen to me closely," Alden said sternly as if talking to a wayward child, "You need to release him this instant, he's the fucking Dark Prince for fucks sake girl, what the hell is wrong with you?"
I digested his words....what was wrong with me? "Alden..." I growled, knowing what he was going to say next without needing the words.
He said them anyways, "This was an interview...He wouldn't have hurt you."
I laughed but it was cold, more pissed than happy. "A fucking interview?"
"They asked for the best, but they wanted to see you in action and to see your skills without you knowing it was an interview."
Bile rose to the back of my throat as I stood, pushing myself off the ground still only garbed in my unmentionables. "A fucking interview! Chandra's fucking dead. Because I killed her Alden! He tried to turn me, he fucking kissed me!"
"No harm was done Synthia."
I blinked at Alden, hadn't he heard me? "Chandra. Is. Dead." I replied slowly, enunciating every word. Making sure he couldn't miss the anger I was feeling, or what I was telling him.
"Yes, she is. Shame, but she was being tested as well. Synthia she was new to our Guild. You know that better than anyone, the Guild the rules must be kept. You were under the Dark Prince's powers, yet you refused to give up the information...she sang like a bird at the first chance she got to save her own skin. You did as you were taught child, you did well."
I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry. I knew what I had to do and it was neither of those things. I had to bury my dead. Chandra deserved to be given the Rites. She deserved to go into the Fade, to be reborn.
I turned and erected an invisible wall with what strength I had left, much to the horror of those around me who had no idea what I intended to do with the life of the Dark Prince still attached to my own soul.
It wasn't until I turned and smiled sadly at Adam, that they knew what I was going to do and started to freak out. Alden rushed to the invisible barrier, while Ryder and his Demon stood still as if afraid to move. I knew better, I was willing to bet there wasn't much Ryder was afraid of...not even dying.
"You can’t send her to the Fade, she turned on us!" Alden screamed, outraged that I would try to send her even though she had betrayed us.
Try was the key word. I would take her death unto me. If I could manage to keep my mind from thinking it was happening in reality. I'd done it only once before, not many had the balls to even attempt it since the mind was a dangerous thing to play around in.
I silently looked around the room finding my target. A radio sat in the corner, turned off. I sent my magic flowing through the room to it, finding Creed's My Own Prison within its database and turned it up. I bent down, kneeling upon the cement floor in front of the ashes.
Adam tried to turn it off, but as the words flowed he stopped. I could feel the weight of the stares in the room burning into my flesh, heavy and unrelenting. I pulled a knife from the Demons boot without having to leave the sanctuary of the circle, magic swift and silent pulling it inside and sealing the hole before anyone knew what had happened.
I brought up the cold, wicked looking blade and cut my palms, slicing an X across both hands, the sting burned as flesh opened up in thin red lines to release blood needed to complete her Rites. I painted the sign of life and death on my torso. The sign of fear and courage on my cheeks and then whispered the chant to bring life to the ashes.
A small wind flowed through the room as I pulled myself up to meet Chandra's soul as she came alive briefly, her soul will need host...I will become it until I can release it. The soul gets lost without a host, it's why we take them in and release them with magic.
Her hazel eyes opened as she stepped from the ashes, she had no voice but it didn't keep her from trying to use it. Telling the dead, they're actually dead is not always a bright idea. They tend to think they can be reanimated. Only Necromancer's can do it and it doesn't always end well for the soul.
She glared and it might have been comical except I'm the one who killed her, so technically...I'd hate me too. She smiled, it was cold, her brown curls rustled soundlessly as she laughed and it too was silent. She noted Adam and Alden outside the sanctuary I cast to protect us from being disturbed. She tilted her head before accepting my offer to carry her. Pain erupted as she entered through the small cuts. Her soul was pulsing as it entered my own. I felt her inside of me, her animated soul gone as she entered my body. And then it came.
I felt my lungs start to fill with fluid, blood. I was taking her death echo into my soul. My brain makes me experience it for myself. As if it was really happening to me. This is where it would get tricky, if my brain at any time thinks it is actually happening...I would die.
Adam pounded against the invisible barrier, he's yelling to remember. Remember it isn't happening and it wasn’t, not really. God did it hurt, it wasn't supposed to hurt. It was supposed to be painless. She suffered, because I'd lost focus.
I felt her rage as she made the connections and then the bitterness of denial as she figured out it's me who killed her. I could barely feel my own body at this point. I could feel the tears flowing from my eyes from the pain, as my soul made room for her inside of it.
My hands flew to my throat as oxygen was ripped and starved from my esophagus and then I felt my lungs giving out. Chaos broke loose outside of the shield, as the Dark Prince coughed and grabbed at his own throat.
Our eyes met and held. If I died...he died with me. He could feel my distress because I'd linked him to my lifeline—my soul. I'll undo it when I'm done gathering her soul and consuming my sin. He's enraged now, he understands that at this moment he's as mortal as I am...and if I lose this battle, he will join me in death.
I coughed and hit the floor at the same moment he did. Our eyes still locked on one another, his in anger, mine in awe. Even choking, this asshole is hot—seriously, someone needs to break his nose and make him a little less pretty.
My mind cried out in warning, Adam and Alden are both chanting...trying to take down the barrier. The Demon was using his dark powers...did they think I hadn't considered all this before I erected it? It's fool proof. I'm that good, seriously. Sometimes I scared myself with just how badass I am.
Ryder spat blood the same moment I did and then it stopped. He stood up as I did. I smiled coldly, he'd felt her pain. He'd felt mine, he had touched my fucking soul. He knows now that I am darker inside, that I have secrets. I hate it.
I wiped my mouth off with the back of my hand and moved my hand, flicking my wrist to remove the barrier. "Come Fae, let's get this over
with." I wanted him out of me; his soul was slithering seductively against my own.
Four
Clothed in my shorts and tank top once more I grabbed his hands and met him face-to-face. His hands, surprisingly warm, gave me a sliver of remembrance of how his seductive touch felt on my skin. I placed them palm up, with my much smaller hands resting lightly on top and enjoyed the anger flowing through him. Until he spoke.
"If you ever connect us again...I will kill you Witch," his voice was low, raspy.
I raised my eyes to meet his head on, "You ever try to Fae-fuck me again...I'll kill you Fairy."
"I'll show you a fucking Fairy...if I remember right, you wanted it."
I raised a blonde brow, which was probably red at the moment since I was still covered in blood. "You used the haze, which is basically rape."
"Did I?" His voice purred, leaving it a statement more than a question.
I growled, which only made his lips turn up in the corners reminding me of the kisses we'd shared. I tried to push his essence out of me, but it is like it's locked inside a box inside my mind. I rolled my eyes and tried again as sweat beaded on my forehead.
"It's not working?"
"Pretty and smart, better alert the fucking press," I replied sarcastically as I put everything inside of me into pushing his essence out of my body.
"You think I'm pretty?" He asked incredulous, as if I'd just handed him the biggest insult of his life.
I narrowed my eyes on him and bit my lower lip. I tried yet again to get his essence from mine, as my legs shook. His hands landed on my waist before I fell. "Pretty much, maybe you should wear less makeup and add some scars. Toughen up that pretty boy image you got going on," I smirked watching his jaw tick with anger. My eyes slid to his full mouth, remembering it, how it felt pressed against mine.
"Syn, need a boost?" Adam asked me from where he stood a few feet away from me, trying to dispel the tension building inside the confines of the room.
My body trembled violently, it was still adapting to the new soul inside of it. I winced as aches and pains made themselves known now that the adrenaline rush had passed. "I just need a few minutes." I lied, not knowing if I would be able to give him back what I had stolen from him.
No sooner had I said it, my legs gave in against my weight. I was caught by Ryder before I landed on my ass on the floor at his feet and carried to a couch. We'd left the torture room and entered what appeared to be an unused office. It was drab and barren of any personal items.
Whitewash walls and matching white carpets, the only object inside the room was a single black couch that wrapped around and covered two walls. "Sit down and do not touch anything," Ryder ordered as he dropped me none too gently on the couch.
"What the hell would I touch?" I grouched back, feeling bitchy about needing to be carried at all... much less by him of all people!
He looked down his nose at me and then at his hands, as if I had stained them...I laughed.
His eyes narrowed, "You were not laughing a little while ago...shall I remind you of where you wanted me?" He looked down at my black skintight shorts. As if he could tell by scent that I was still having him dance around in my inappropriate thoughts.
"You fucked with my mind and I resisted you," I said allowing my lips to turn up in one corner before gently biting my lip and wincing.
Oh yeah...I'd bitten it hard. Ouch.
"Keep lipping off and I'll find a use for that tongue."
"Keep dreaming man-whore."
He made a disgruntled sound of irritation but I was too tired to care, my body felt drained. My mind kept replaying his damn lips pressed against mine and Chandra, poor Chandra had died for this guy's stupid interview.
"I don't need to dream about fucking. If I wanted you Witch, you'd be mine," he growled heatedly, his voice rough.
I glared back. Tired of everything that was going on in this place. However, I knew I wasn’t walking out those doors until I could fix this. The noise coming from the hallway drew me from my irate inner thoughts and back to Adam, who was even now coming through the door with steaming hot coffee.
I accepted it carefully, noting how my hands shook as I reached for and accepted it. After a few minutes of intense silence, Alden walked in. His eyes, sharp as a predators as he took us all in.
"Any luck yet?" His voices' sharp, angry tone made me want to slap him.
It was one of the first things we learned in training. Never argue with an elder or any Witch for that matter in front of someone from outside the Guild. I shook my head and indulged in a long drink of the rich hot nectar.
The room once again grew silent, until I set the cup aside on the floor since there wasn't a table or anything to place it on. "Let's give it another shot," I whispered, noting Alden was watching the two of us very closely.
I stood up slowly and stepped closer to the dark and seductive Fae Prince, my hands coming out from my sides to hold his. It would have been a hell of a lot easier if I didn't have to touch him to complete the transfer.
His hands were warm and soft. As if he'd never seen or endured a hard day's work ever in his life. His fingers curled around my own, sending heat raging through every part of my sex-starved tissue. I raised my eyes, meeting him head on even though I had to look up to do so. I watched his lips curve wickedly. Those eyes of his glowing bronze fire, as if he felt the same intensity I did. The spell shouldn't have been cast. If I had known I wasn't going to be killed, I wouldn't have used it. I exhaled slowly, feeling his strength combine with my own as he pulled his soul essence from my body.
It caressed me from the inside, touching, testing as it flowed through me and it reattached to him. His eyes smiled mischievously as if he was commanding it to do so. Heat flowed through me, his hands offered more support as my legs trembled once more with the need to come. He watched my face hungrily, intensely as I felt even more moisture pooling at my junction and saturating my panties. His soul was fucking me from the inside and it was intensely seductive and powerful.
The minute I felt the last of his essence leaving my body, I pulled away as if his touch was scorching my flesh. I wiped his touch off on the tank top I wore and turned to Alden on shaky legs, ignoring the husky laugh from the dark seduction behind me. "It's done."
Alden wasn't looking to me though. He was looking over my shoulder to the Prince. Whatever! I just wanted to go home and curl up in my bed and sleep for a week. Maybe indulge in a few buckets of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
"Sit Synthia. We have business to discuss," Alden growled as if he was upset with me. Nothing new there.
I sat, not because he had told me to, but because my legs wouldn't stop shaking with need and lust. Much to my utter horror Ryder sat beside me—way too close for my state of mind. "Talk."
"The Prince has a job for you," Alden said without any emotion on his face.
"No."
"No?" Three voices said as one, Alden, Ryder and the damn Demon who had just walked back in.
"Need a dictionary to figure the word out boys?" I offered lamely.
Alden pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, "This isn't a would you, it's a you're going to Synthia."
I smiled coldly. "Well then, why didn't you just say so to begin with Alden? And what if I flat out refuse? Besides, with my past history being what it is—you sure you want me working with them?"
"Then you will receive a mark and it won't bode well for your coven for refusing a direct order. Past history aside Synthia, this is something you will do."
I growled.
Adam who was swallowing a sip of his own coffee spit it out and cussed.
"Syn," Adam warned with stark fear in his eyes.
I swallowed past the swelling in my throat. "What's the job?"
"Impersonating the Light Heir at the Engagement Ball," The Demon said smoothly as if I hadn't just been threatened, yet again today.
"I think I'd prefer death, besides Alden, that's a waste of my talents and you know it
," I snapped. Impersonator? I was not a freaking impersonator. I was one of the best enforcer’s in the entire state of Washington—don’t even get me started on the jobs requiring my skills as an assassin!
"Enough! Do you know why no one else has asked to join your coven Synthia? Because they're afraid you'll get them killed like everyone else you grow attached to! If anyone gets too close to you, they die. Adam stay's beside you because he knows if he doesn't; you'll probably get marked and become an easy target. Damn it girl, you know what happens when you’ve been marked."
Ouch, that was going to leave a bruise on my ego. My eyes swung to Adam who wouldn't meet them. "Adam?"
"Syn..." He said carefully, as if he didn't want to go there in front of our present company.
"Fine, I'll impersonate her."
"It's not just impersonating, that is only part of what we want you for. You will be told the rest later on." Ryder said, "I was informed you could cloak your appearance and take that of another so well that it would be completely undetectable?"
I officially wanted to scalp Alden Indian style. I just needed a really cool doeskin skirt and a very sharp knife to do so. I nodded, it was the only confirmation he would be getting out of me.
They all looked at me expectantly. I looked back at them bored already.
Alden spoke first after a few moments of silence, "Change."
"Can't. I've never seen her before," I snapped with exhaustion showing in my tone.
"Ristan?" Ryder raised an eyebrow.
I chewed my lips while Ryder dusted off an invisible piece of lint from his jeans. The Demon materialized a tabloid with a picture of a blonde beauty on the cover. The two would have cute kids together. I studied every detail I could see and memorized it to mind. I straightened up and pulled the glamour around me from head to toe.